Proud to be a '10 Month Mama'

After 43 weeks and 2 days of pregnancy I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Eva. She was (and is!) extremely healthy, alert and relaxed. The pressure on me to induce was immense - with most of the midwives I encountered unquestioningly expecting me to be desperate to 'get this baby out' etc etc. Now, don't get me wrong, I was completely fed up, achy and looking forward so much to meeting our little girl (we knew the sex), but deep down - and I am definitely no earth mother - it felt really wrong to 'interfere' with nature.


Obviously there are often medical reasons why mums-to-be need to be induced, and I wouldn't have hesitated if this had been the case. At 42 weeks I had a scan and monitoring every few days thereafter which showed no cause for concern in terms of fluid volume around the baby or placental degeneration. I therefore saw no logic in doing anything but waiting - I was more concerned about having a baby born unnecessarily early! The number of times people said and still say to me "I am surprised they let you go that long" is unbelievable....they didn't let me - it was my choice, and everyone has that choice!! The consultant and some of the more experienced midwives were very supportive - apparently it used to be much more commonplace to monitor people after 42 weeks.


One of the things I find particularly interesting is that I was born almost 4 weeks after my mum's 'due date' - and to quote the consultant that saw me "some people just take longer to cook babies". It must be genetic. 


Whilst plodding through those last long weeks of my pregnancy I was fascinated (and reassured!) to discover that my mum and I are not alone. I discovered that there is a group called the '10 month mamas'. They have a Facebook page where facts, figures and shared stories can be found. 


Something that a lot of '10 month mamas' (I love that expression :-)) have in common it would seem, is that they give birth to really chilled out babies. This is definitely the case with Eva. She quite literally came out with her eyes open, staring around the delivery room. I can't quite bring myself to share that photo - unfortunately I am in it too!! She has always been really relaxed...sleeps well, breastfeeds well and very rarely cries. She is extremely alert and interested in everything - she is only 10 weeks old, by the way!


I really enjoy sharing the story of my long pregnancy, and hope that it helps other "overdue" (hate that expression!!) mums that need a bit of moral support :-)